Thursday, January 30, 2014

With the start of Spring Training just a couple of weeks away, the Yankees are not finished with the open market, although the big spending for this year may be over, said one of the team’s top executives.

“I think for major free agents, we’re done,” club president Randy Levine told MLB.com during Wednesday night’s outdoor NHL game at Yankee Stadium, a 2-1 Rangers win over the Islanders. “But we’re always trying to improve the team. That always happens.”

It has been an offseason of big spending for the Yanks on major free agents: $486 million worth.

...“I think we’re going to be very competitive,” Levine said. “We’ve got a lot of exciting new pieces. Obviously, Tanaka is going to help our pitching staff. We’re excited. But between Brian McCann, Carlos Beltran and Jacoby Ellsbury, those are three outstanding players, real character people. Hopefully [Mark Teixeira] gets back, and most importantly, hopefully we don’t have the bad luck of injuries we had last year.

“The fact that we were able to overcome that and stay close was really amazing. I just wish for good health this year.”

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Maybe it's my Pollyanish streak, and maybe a lot of people say this kind of thing in January/February, but this looks like it might be a pretty good team.

The starting rotation might be best in the division, if Tanaka is all that. Robertson is a beast in the 'pen. The infield is old and fragile, but I think the outfield might be really good (if you look at Beltran as a straight-up replacement for Granderson, I think that's an upgrade. And there's a lot of talent on the bench should there be trades/injuries/ineffectiveness). Catcher has been dramatically upgraded, and I continue to like the Girardi Administration. I think the team is set up a lot better than it was at this point a year ago. There are a lot of question marks and a lengthy injury history on a lot of them. But I can see this club winning a lot of games.

Pretty sure he was mainly referring to Granderson and Tex, neither of whom are old, and some of their younger backups Nunez, Nix and Cervelli. Jeter and Arod were hurt the year before so they knew they had issues there and time to address them, and Youkilis and Hafner had prior health issues so no bad luck there. They also had significant injuries down on the farm and their SP depth.

I don't see the Yankees winning more than 88 games. That IF has the potential to put up 0 WAR. No back up for Tex who still is not 100% from his wrist surgery and making noises to manage expectations, a 36 yo 2Bman who has managed to start on the field 174 games in 4 years, a 40 yo SS with awful range when healthy back after a lost year due to a serious ankle injury and an out of position 2Bman at 3B.

They really need Drew to play 3B and wait for Jeter to hang up his SS glove, while moving Johnson to platoon with Roberts at 2B and backup Tex at 1B. That might kick them to 92 wins.

I think the Red Sox regress significantly and will struggle to win much more than 92

The Yankees had a record-breaking number of injuries last year, and while many were related to age, a number were not. They included the following, all of whom spent time on the DL or missed significant playing time:

Yeah, I think they'll win somewhere in the low to mid-80's. On paper they look OK. But they lost their closer without getting anything back. They lost a key starter without getting anything back. They lost their best player without getting anything back that can help them right away. They lost their thirdbaseman without getting anything back. They also lost their centerfielder. They signed a bunch of free agents to fill some holes but all that does is get them back to .500. And man, are they old! The entire infield is a question mark, even without considering the injury factor. Sure, they might win 90 games, if things all fall into place. But it's a lot more likely they win 75, IMO.

Bruce, Gardner played 145 games, and had the most plate appearances in his career. He doesn't count. Robertson nearly matched his career high in innings, just missed it by one crummy out. He doesn't count either. Nunez is near replacement level, so losing him doesn't mean anything. So he doesn't count. Nova pitched 31 fewer innings than the previous season, but pitched better than he had previously. He'll probably regress this year. We'll see about Phelps. He might not be all that good.

Really, only Cervelli and Granderson were the only players of significance in your list who lost significant time, and Granderson is gone. If the players on your list are the ones you expect to help the Yankees bounce back strong, they're in a heap of trouble.

The Yankees' infield looks like something the Dragon Smaug pooped on multiple times !
It can still change !
The season depends on what the pitching can accomplish, weight loss, brain power, Bronx Bombers' honor... doesn't look good though ! Right now, I would be surprised if they won 83 games !

The Yankees are always pretty good. Even last year when they were working with smoke and mirrors they still managed to stay competitive.

Any Red Sox fan who tells you that last year was kind of expected and expects a similar result this year is a complete and utter moron. If the Sox win 90 and qualify for the playoffs, I'll be stoked. Most things worked well for them last year, that doesn't happen 2 years in a row.